On Wednesday 12 April, the European Commission adopted a draft amending budget for 2017 providing for the EU's budgetary surplus from 2016 to be entered in this year's budget.
The 2016 surplus stands at €6.4 billion and will reduce the overall contribution of the member states to the financing of the EU budget for 2017 by the same amount.
The figures show that the German contribution to the 2017 budget will be reduced by €1.3 billion (Germany will pay €18.7 billion in total in 2017, as...